1. Field of the Invention
The field of the invention relates to disinfection rack whose function is to protect and disinfect the superior surface of vials in addition to being a mountable holder for these same vials.
2. Brief Description of Prior Art
The use of multiple-dose vials in medicine has proven to be a cost efficient way for a health professional to administer injectable medications to patients. Besides cost, there are other advantages these multiple-dose vials have over ampules and prefilled syringes. For example, allowing the physician to fill the syringe with the exact dose desired, and mixing a number of compatible medications in a single syringe to be given in one injection are two such advantages. Typically the person who is to administer the medication must go through a number of steps to fill a syringe from a multiple-dose vial. Usually these steps include locating the appropriate medication in a cabinet drawer among a group of vials, then place it on a counter top, find an alcohol soaked gauze, clean the top of the vial, and then proceed to draw up the medication into the syringe. This cleaning is necessary because once the vial top has been removed, a nonremovable rubber stopper is now exposed. To remove the medication from the vial one must pierce the rubber stopper with a sterile needle which may become contaminated if the top of the vial is not cleaned properly.
The present invention provides a device to mount, display, store, organize, and disinfect a plurality of vials. A number of racks for storage of objects have be disclosed such as those in U.S. Pat. No. 4,687,108 (1987), Kermodle; where a flange item holder is used to mount various object by their base and U.S. Pat. No. 4,925,630 (1990) Grunwald, which holds sample vials by their base. Other prior art such as racks described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,482,065 (1984) Altemose; and 4,887,726 (1989) Clanire; are large bottle holders like those used for wine, or as in U.S. Pat. No. 4,325,486 (1982) Neal, an overhead rack for glass stemware. While all above mentioned letters are suitable for there intended purpose they do not disinfect the objects they hold. Some disinfecting devices such as those disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,863,698 (1989) Ryder et al, are used for sterilizing glass vials with an object inside,(ie. Contact lenses) by using heat, or 5,106,595 (1992) Ellenberg, sterilizes the mouth of containers by applying a disinfectant with atomizers. These inventions are novel for their intended purpose but do fail to provide a rack or system for mounting vials, and many disinfection systems use heat which will alter the chemical structure of the medication if it is subjected to extremes in temperature or radiation.